The first musicians who offered me work after I quit Blue Rodeo were Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet. Would I be into touring with them as the opening act? In physics the plank is the measurement of how fast light travels and took me less than half a plank to answer.

I especially enjoyed their song titles, for example Planet Egypt Texas, Reid’s Situation and Cheese In The Fridge.

Adam Ant?

I recall three shows inparticular. St. Louis with the fabulous opening act Enormous Richard, the Majestic Theatre in Detroit where the sound man was intentionally unhelpful to me because I was the opening act and

Amigos in Saskatoon when I was asking Don Pyle for pointers re: making great song titles. At the same time, a woman who enjoyed the show was trying to get my attention and trying to become my friend by distancing herself from her boyfriend, Fred. She started to say something like “the trouble with Fred–” and before she could complete the sentence Don raised his eyebrows indicating wordlessly, life was trying to assist me. Later added an instrumental to my next record and called it The Trouble with Shadowy Men on A Shadowy Planet. Once in awhile someone asks me why I don’t like them and I don’t know whether to set them straight or let their incorrect detective work stand, and enjoy life positioning me to observe its work, again.